Visible light assisted photocatalytic degradation of crystal violet dye and electrochemical detection of ascorbic acid using a BiVO/FeVO heterojunction composite.

A BiVO/FeVO nanocomposite photocatalyst was successfully synthesized a hydrothermal method. The prepared heterojunction photocatalyst was characterized physically and chemically using XRD, SEM, EDX, XPS, BET, FT-IR, Raman, UV-vis DRS, EPR and photoluminescence techniques. BiVO/FeVO was explored for its photocatalytic activity by the decomposition of crystal violet (CV) organic dye under visible radiation. This experiment showed that BiVO/FeVO at a ratio of 2 : 1 completely degrades CV within 60 min. In addition, BiVO/FeVO was investigated for the electrochemical detection of the useful analyte ascorbic acid using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and cyclic voltammetry techniques. This work reveals the potential of the BiVO/FeVO nanocomposite for applications in environmental disciplines as well as in biosensing.